7 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



suggestive of weediness ; yet, if introduced into the garden it 

 can become an absolute nuisance. Its roots produce a large 

 number of cylindrical tubers, which when the "doctrine of 

 signatures" was in fashion were held to resemble hemor- 

 rhoids, and therefore to be medicinal for that painful malady : 

 hence one of its folk-names Pilewort. Each of these tubers is 

 capable of producing a new plant, and reproduction by this 

 method is speedily effected. 



The leaves vary much in shape and in size. The larger, from 

 the root (radical), are more or less heart-shaped, the edges 

 bluntly angled ; the smaller ones, from the stem (caudal), may 

 approach towards the form of an ivy-leaf. The sepals (calyx) 

 vary from three to five, usually three, and the petals from seven 

 to twelve. The stamens are numerous, as also are the carpels 

 or divisions of the fruit. As in the Anemone (page 3), these 

 are achenes, a form persistent throughout the genus 

 Ranunculus ; each contains a single seed. The plant is well 

 distributed throughout the country, and may be found in flower 

 until May. 



The Broom (Cytisus scoparius). 



The Broom is sadly liable to be confounded with the Furze 

 by the non-botanical rambler, chiefly, we believe, because of 

 the similarity of the flowers and the partiality of both for heaths 

 and commons. There are, however, several points of difference 

 between them ; but one is sufficient for a rough-and-ready 

 distinction. The Furze began life with a few leaves similar to 

 those of the Broom, but as it grew it put forth sharp spines 

 instead of ordinary leaves, until it became more difficult to 

 handle than any hedgehog. The Broom rarely puts on any 

 prickles at all, and its compound leaves, of three small 

 leaflets, may be seen as in the illustration, close to the pliant 

 stems. 



